The last Adventure of 2014 - Trip to India

This Christmas we were on a plane to India.  We started December 25th early morning.  Our flight was at 1:30pm.  We were all excited.  Our first trip as a family to India.  My first trip since I got married.  We packed, prepared George for this long 18 hrs journey on a plane.  We prayed for the children to behave and for us to have the patience to handle everything.  We went for Christmas Eve mass and got out the house by 10:00 on Christmas morning.  

Things did not go as beautifully as we thought that morning.  I had just changed my maiden name to my husband's just a week ago while I became a citizen of the United States of America.  But I had booked my ticket under my maiden name.  The people there made a big deal about it and they had us step aside for around 30 to 45 mins.  Finally all that was taken care and we got our boarding passes.  As we were about to board the plane is when we both realized that we did not get seats together.  My husbands seat was far away from us. 

At the Airport

We had 6 big suitcases in two carts

My boy was so excited and so well behaved during all that wait time

Looking their plane which will take them to India

During that wait they made friends with another boy

Good play time

We checked with the employees there and they said they can't do anything but check with the person sitting next to you to switch seats.  What a nightmare!  How will I sit with two little children for such a long hr flight without Sony next to me?  I started to freak out and get really worried but what can you do.  As we were about to get on to the plane is when I realized that I did not have my purse with me... oh no.... perfect timing right??  We told the flight attendant, Sony ran back outside looking for it while me and children stayed right outside the door waiting for Sony to come.  10 minutes went by and Sony is no where to be seen.  I knew where exactly I left my purse but Sony didn't.  Well, finally I told them I will go check and they were not too happy with sending me but they finally did.  I ran outside and found my purse right where I left it. Thank you Jesus.  Sony came right in time and we got on the plane. Pheww....  I couldn't breathe after running around looking for my purse with Anna and George in my hands.

One would only hope after all this chaos things would go smooth.  Nope!! Not yet.  Finally we get our seats. George and myself with Anna (no seat since she is an infant) got two seats next to each other.  Next to our seats was another guy.  Who would want to sit next to a mother and two toddlers, right??  Yea right.. this guy very firmly told me that he will not move.  Huh!!!  Oh Lord I was almost in tears at that moment.  What will I do, what if they both cry and want to go to the bathroom at the same time. I do have to breast feed Anna.  How will I do all this sitting next to a stranger?   I have never traveled before with children on a plane for such a long distance.

After all that drama Sony went back to his seat.  Few minutes later two young guys  came to me and told ne that they will sit there.. WHAT???  I didn't understand.  By then Sony had come and told me that these two guys sitting next to Sony said that they will switch seats with me.  They were the nicest boys I have ever seen.  Boys at that age are willing to switch seats??   Anyways, we thanked them and myself and children went backwards to were Sony was sitting.  Thank God for the angels he sends when you are in trouble. Those boys were truly angels.

His first gum.  We told him we will give him gum to chew when the flight takes off

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Watching Mickey Mouse club house

The Very Hungry Caterpillar

Books kept her going for a while

Different ways in which we entertained her.  Used the remote control as a phone

We thanked God for keeping us safe and together during all that time.  I apologized to Sony for being so mad at him for not getting seats together.  My husband he is such a sweet heart, I was going crazy by the end of all this that I did not know what I said and did.  I was scared, tired and so worried.  He dealt with all that so beautifully.  God would have known this earlier that he gave him to me.  

My brother Joe had mentioned that two of his friends from Canada are also travelling by this flight.  They were also part of the Jesus Youth Movement in Canada.  Later on only we found out that the two boys who switched seats with us were the friends my brother was talking about.  These guys helped us throughout our trip not just by switching seats but by taking care of our children and playing with them.  They were also going to Kerala.  I am so glad to know that there are good Christians out there who are willing to help people.  

So we went on putting the one single cartoon that was available for George, Anna fell asleep for two hrs and then we entertained her with several other things.  We were on that plane for 8 hours and then it happened. We heard this loud cry and noise coming from the other side of the plane.  There was a mom with an 18 months old boy who looked like he is going to faint, or not breathing or choked on something.  We didn't know what was going on.  The next thing you know Sony is holding the baby trying to get whatever he choked on but nothing came out, and the kid seemed to be still struggling to breathe.  Oh lord...I was holding on to the kids and praying for things to be okay.  The mother said he didn't eat anything to choke.  Then the lady sitting next to them who happened to be a doctor started checking the baby, laid him on the seat and found out that he has a high fever and has got very low breathing.  Flight attendants, people everyone was around trying to find out what is going on.  My only prayer was to save that poor child.  I cannot imagine anything happen to that baby.  The mom and child were traveling alone.  The plane flew for another 2 hrs and that's when they decided to fly back 1 hr 45 mins to land in London airport to drop the baby and mom since his condition was getting worse. We were just another 6 hrs away from landing in our destination but the plane flew back to London and dropped off the baby.  Okay we all sat in the plane. I hoped and prayed that the delay wouldn't be too long.  But we had to sit in that plane for 3 hours in the airport until they could find their luggage and finish all the formalities of an emergency landing.  What an adventure??  We were so tired.  My back was hurting sitting with Anna sleeping on me and not being able to get up.  By then we were on that plane for 15 hours.  We should have been in Delhi, India by that time.  Well, God's plan was different.  

We took off again and flew for another 8 to 10 hrs before we landed in Delhi (Capital of India).  By then we had missed our connecting flight from Delhi to Kerala which we is were we needed to go to.  We weren't worried.  We were just so happy that we landed and the kids could just walk around in the airport.  Now only God knew what was waiting for us there.  We landed in Delhi at 10:00pm.  We were supposed to land there at 3:30 pm that day if our plane did not have to make an emergency landing.  Our connecting flight was at 6:30 pm which we missed.  Now we are waiting for them to give us another flight.  After the long hours of wait they gave us some paper which had some flight timings printed.  Whatever we really did not care as long as we could get past the security.  The paper said that our flight is in the morning at  6:30 am. We decided to stay over at the airport for that night.  We ate at the airport, kids ran around and played and finally it was 4:00 am and we started standing in line to check in.  After a long wait we came to know that the paper we got saying our flight timing is not a confirmed ticket which means we have not confirmed seats available for that flight.  The people there seemed to have no understanding of the situation.  I don't think they knew what customer service meant.  These guys didn't give us a seat for that flight.  Can you believe it?  I don't know how to describe in words how angry, tired, sleepless, hungry we all were.  We stood and we fought and fought.  By then it was 7:00 am.  Meanwhile kids are crying, I am feeding Anna, trying to put her to sleep, George playing with the phone and what not.  We tried our best to keep the kids comfortable during all this time.  Finally one guy who was seeing our situation decided to do something about it and I think since they needed us to leave the front area of the counter finally they put us on a flight which was at 1:30 pm that day.  I could not complain but thank God that we at least got a flight for the same day.  We could have easily been there another day just waiting at the airport for a plane.  

First food we bought at the Delhi airport

The two Canadians who were our angels  

Great idea, don't you think?  We had no choice but open our suitcase to put this poor child to sleep

finally on our way to board the next plane to our home land Kerala

After another 3 hrs of flight we landed in our Kerala also knows as God's own Country

In the car to our home, kids were out for hours...God only knows how long they have been sleeping.

The Kerala Traffic

 

The rest of the story for later.  The best part is that we are just an hr away from reaching our home at this time.  Looking back at it I think it was one of the greatest adventures we have been together as a family.  By the way the pilot of our plane later on informed us that the child came back to normal breathing and is in good care at the hospital.  Thank God we were able to save one life even though we all had to go through a lot. 

Is Santa real??

Many of us think that this Santa Claus thing is complete nonsense.  We feel like it is taking away the true meaning of Christmas.  To an extent I also thought the same way.  I never grew up believing in Santa and we really didn't have this in India while I was young. 

Now that we are in America and our children have many opportunities to learn the wrong information especially since the society gives much importance to taking pictures with Santa and other decorations completely leaving the true meaning of Christmas, we as parents need to put in some additional effort in teaching our children the right meaning and true facts of our faith.  

I have heard about St. Nicholas before and knew that Santa Claus came from St. Nicholas.  But I decided to learn a little more about this Saint.  I ordered the CCC of America's saint video collection recently when they had it on sale so that I can show my children the saint videos especially when we celebrate their feast days.  Along with the videos one was of St. Nicholas’s.  After watching it with George and Anna I realized what a great Saint he was.  He was from a very wealthy family but lost his parents at a young age.  Growing up he kept helping people with the money he inherited and saved a lot of poor families by paying off their taxes, getting their daughters married etc.  At the end he gave away the rest of his wealth to the bishop for the use of the church.  Finally he became a bishop himself, was arrested and put in jail for many years for standing up for his Christian Faith.  

On December 6^th we celebrate this great Saint’s feast day.  In order to remember this Saint many Christian families put chocolate coins and other gifts in their kid’s shoes on his feast day.  This year I wanted to celebrate the feast day of St. Nicholas and gave my little ones new slippers and small gifts.  They woke up that morning to see the gifts St. Nicholas left for them and were very happy to receive them.  Even now George takes his coloring book and slippers he got and remembers that St. Nicholas brought it for him.  One day, I mentioned that I might have to return the shoes if it does not fit Anna.  George heard this and immediately he said “Mamma, but how can you return it to St. Nicholas.  Isn’t he in heaven?”  How innocent are our children!!  Isn’t it better that they learn it the right way than just thinking Santa is not real or he is the most important figure than Jesus in Christmas.   

Our homeschooling group had a St. Nicholas party and we were able to participate in it.  They had the special guest St. Nicholas there and it was amazing to see St. Nicholas dressed up as real St. Nicholas and not in the Santa outfit we see all around.  This was the first time I even saw someone dressed up as St. Nicholas.  How wonderful it would be if we can raise our children teaching them the true meaning of our faith and help them to understand we don’t just believe in some myth, but the truth. They could even take pictures with St. Nicholas.  My boy didn't want to since he was too shy. :(

Next year I want to make small handmade gifts on his feast day and have the children give it to other families which will help them to remember what St. Nicholas did.  Ultimately we believe that St. Nicholas is real because he was one of the Saints who taught us kindness and generosity.

God, we pray that through the intercessions of St. Nicholas

you will guide and protect our children. 

Keep them safe from all harm and help them grow

to become loving disciples of Jesus in your sight. 

Give them strength to always mature into deeper faith

in you, and to keep alive joy in your creation. 

Through Jesus Christ Our Lord. Amen.

St. Nicholas ~ Pray for us

  

I'm in love with the rich traditions of our Catholic Church

There are some things which God reveals to you only at a certain time.  I am just beginning to find out a lot more about the rich traditions of our Catholic Church.  The best part is I still have to learn a lot more about our Catholic Faith.  I feel so bad sometimes that I did not know about these beautiful traditions when I was younger.  Do you know what a Jesse Tree is?  I learned about Jesse tree just a year ago.  This Advent I have my own Jesse Tree which I am so proud of and happy that the Lord gave me the grace to add this tradition into my family with my children.  

The Jesse tree is the family tree of Jesus.  It goes back to the very beginning, to Creation; it

traces His family through the Old Testament, and it ends when He is born on Christmas day.

A Jesse tree is a little like an advent calendar, except that it emphasizes the true meaning

of Christmas, the birth of Jesus Christ. Like any advent countdown, the Jesse tree has one ornament per day. Unlike a calendar, though, the Jesse tree tradition focuses on a Bible story, a character, a devotion each day.  You can see the ornaments I made for my Jesse tree below.  It is all made of felt and I took this idea from the blog Shower of Roses

You can buy a Jesse tree from many Christian stores and family owned businesses.  But I did not want to spend money which I don’t have so I decided to make my own.  I can use this every year with my children and no need to worry about making this every year.  I was not sure whether I would get it done for this Advent but only by God’s special grace I was able to pull it off right before the day Advent began.   I still make the ornaments for each day when I get time.  I just make sure I have enough ornaments for the next few days.  I have learned so many things these past days which I never knew before.  

Each day you read the bible passage with your children, hang the ornament for the day and the children can color a coloring sheet which shows the picture story from the bible.  This helps little children to understand and remember what they learned for the day.  My George was never interested in coloring but since the past few months he has been showing some interest and like to color.  

Every day the  Holy Heroes Advent Adventure has a video to help children understand the ornament for the day.   As each day pass by we learn more and more about the family tree of Jesus and how God had planned it from years ago through choosing the right descendants for his Son to be born. Our children learn that this is no made up story but it has proof and a very strong history behind it.  Now this is too much for George to understand but years pass by and as we make this a tradition every year for Advent the children will get a better understanding of what they believe in. I am so glad and thankful to God that he helped me to prepare these things now so that when I have more children I will not have the time I have right now, so I better make full use of it. :)

Anna also wanted to join in learning about Jesse tree so she got to hang the ornament after George got a turn

And now whatever GEorge gets she demands it too.  So she gets a coloring sheet and the sweetest thing is that she tries her best to color 

As long as she doesn't put that crayon in her mouth haha

Here is my finished Jesse Tree

I do have to share about "O Antiphons" which I hopefully will do tomorrow.  I hope you are enjoying your Advent and preparing yourself and your family to receive Christ the new born King

Putting Yarn in the basket for every good deed you do and make a comfy bed for Jesus